


Carried Away

by mattemaiden



Category: Arno & Sophie, Original Work, Original Work Inspired by Adeline's Original Work, THE BEAN FANDOM, The Doodeline Fandom
Genre: Anxiety, Encouragement, Guitar, Music, Other, Self-Doubt, Slam Poetry, THE LOVE OF MUSIC, beat poetry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-06-25 09:41:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15638133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mattemaiden/pseuds/mattemaiden
Summary: After years of playing the guitar, Arno Basset gains the courage to perform on stage for the very first time thanks to the encouragement from the bubbly and supportive Sophie Bonne.





	Carried Away

**Author's Note:**

  * For [doodeline](https://archiveofourown.org/users/doodeline/gifts).



Arno Basset blamed himself for breaking the brand-new strings of his guitar.

For the past two weeks, he began practicing every day for hours in preparation for his first solo performance at a nearby café, one he and his best friend Sophie Bonne loved to frequent in their free time. He wanted to sing and play perfectly, but his performance anxiety was beginning to get the best of him. Just as he had finished tuning them, he plucked and strummed the poor strings beneath his fingers over and over until he got each chord just right.

But the sound of the strings snapping caused Arno to flinch. He cursed out loud at the stinging sensation on his wrist and mentally kicked himself for making the mistake of tuning them too tightly in the first place.

“Man, I haven’t played this badly in a while. What a terrible omen,” he said to himself jokingly.

Arno shook his head.

_‘Maybe I should just tell Sophie I won’t be able to make it tonight.’_

He placed his guitar on his bed and reached for his phone, noting the brand-new cut on his hand that he reminded himself to take care of as soon as he was done texting Sophie. Then Arno’s fingers froze as he remembered how excited the bubbly art student was less than a month ago as she ran into the record shop he worked at and gave him a flyer, one promoting a night of beat poetry and live music at the café.

“Hey Sophie! What’s going on tod-“

“Arno, _look_!” she blurted as she held the flyer right in front of his face.

“Wha – I can’t see-”

“Whoops, sorry!” She took a step back and giggled.

“It’s fine,” he grinned. “What’s got you so excited today?”

“ _This_ \- you’d be perfect for it!” she continued, trying her best to contain her enthusiasm. “You always play the guitar for me and our friends – this would be the perfect opportunity to perform on stage in front of a bigger audience!”

Arno blushed and rubbed the back of his neck shyly.

“Yeah...it does sound pretty cool, but...”

Sophie smiled brightly. “ _Buuuuut_?”

Arno blushed harder as he scanned the flyer in his hands. “A lot of people will be there...”

“Hopefully!” she exclaimed.

The slight nervousness he felt in his throat had now settled in his stomach.

“Crowds kind of...stress me out,” he explained.

The softness and understanding in Sophie’s eyes alleviated the uneasiness in his chest.

“I’m so sorry, Arno...I forgot you don’t like crowds,” she said bashfully. “In that case, we could still go for a little while if that’s cool with you? Just to watch, I mean!”

“It’s okay, really,” he assured her with a warm smile. “Going anyway sounds awesome – we could hang out at the café for a bit and then maybe hang out at my place?”

Sophie beamed. “Can’t wait, it’ll be fun! I’m leaving the flyer here for you to take home just in case.”

“Thanks, Sophie!”

“No problem!”

“By the way, we’re still hanging out later today, yeah? I got some new records we could listen to,” said Arno with a hint of eagerness in his voice.

“Sounds like a plan! Also, you promised you’d quiz me on Italian renaissance art before my exam on Monday,” she reminded him happily.

“Of course!”

“ _Thank youuu_!” she squeaked before giving him a quick bear hug that nearly squeezed the air out of Arno’s lungs. He hugged her back just as tightly and thanked her for the visit, waving at her until she disappeared past the shop windows to go to class.

Once he was alone again, he sighed and stared at the now slightly wrinkled flyer designed with stars splattered near the top and an empty stage at the bottom. The words “ _Join us for a night of Poetry and Music”_ kept tugging at him for the rest of the week until he decided that maybe, just maybe he would change his mind and give it a try.  


It would be a good learning experience - he would keep this a secret from everyone until the day of the event just to see the look on his friends’ faces, especially Sophie’s.

It would all be worthwhile.

Arno reached for his phone on his nightstand, opened Spotify, and searched for the perfect song he would perform. When the right one came along, he began to practice singing and playing daily for the remainder of the month.

And now, with his fingers still hovered over the keyboard on his phone, he silently scolded himself for letting his nerves get the best of him.

 _‘Why am I giving myself a hard time about this?’ I’m not usually...like this before a performance,’_ he thought.

The chords he had been playing lately were incorrect, the lyrics he memorized were forgotten as soon as the first note left his lips, and the erratic beating of his heart made it harder for him to breath. He was out of sync with the music and out of sync with himself.

A moment later, Arno rubbed his eyes with his free hand and reached up to run it through his dark hair.

He performed in front of other people before – his friends, family, customers at the shop, the curious pigeons at the park he loved to go to. There shouldn’t be that much of a difference when it came to performing in front of a much larger crowd, right?

A crowd he wasn’t familiar with. A crowd that was sure to be made up of a heckler or two. Or ten. A crowd that would photograph and record him right as he sang out of tune or snapped a string of his guitar to post it on social media. A crowd that would never forget him if he made a mistake –

 _‘A crowd that will cheer you on before and after you get on stage. A crowd that might sing along with you. A crowd that will always remember you because you’re Arno Basset and you’re talented and you can do anything you set your mind to,’_ said the hopeful voice inside his head, one that was reminiscent of Sophie’s.

Cheerful. Soft. Vibrant. Encouraging.

A week after Sophie gave him that flyer, he decided that going on stage to sing and play the guitar was something he could try because after all, he absolutely loved it.

Arno’s life revolved around music – it gave him a certain kind of peace he couldn’t find anywhere else.

With a determined nod, he grabbed some new strings, his guitar, and his phone before making his way to a place he held near and dear to his heart. All he needed was to practice there instead of at home – it would do him some good, he thought, to get some fresh air and feel inspired again.

The self-doubt that was hindering him was already fading away the moment he stepped outside.

He could breathe deeply again.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone, Adeline's OCs are so CUTE and WONDERFUL and I think about them A LOT so I wrote what was supposed to be a oneshot that's turning out to be a little more! :'D <3333
> 
> Check out Adeline's beautiful art on tumblr @doodeline and on Instagram @doodelineart !!!! <33
> 
> Meet Arno here:http://doodeline.tumblr.com/post/158899963270/meet-arno-specifics-under-the-cut-name-arno
> 
> Meet Sophie here: http://doodeline.tumblr.com/post/158453584405/meet-sophie-specifics-under-the-cutmore
> 
> There's more to come because my dumb brain keeps wanting to add to and rewrite basically everything that my fingers ever write lmaoo! STAY TUNED~!! :*


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